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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ruffian who wrote (34140)	7/6/1999 11:35:00 PM
From: Jon Koplik	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

To all - AP News story about when the "meter starts ticking" with wireless carriers. July 6, 1999 Cell Phone Cos. Go by Own Rules Filed at 5:33 p.m. EDT By The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) -- Whether it's local or long distance, home phone or pay phone, it's understood: A call starts with ''hello.'' If there's no answer, there's no charge. With mobile phones, the situation can be quite different. Most mobile phone companies charge from the moment the caller hits the ''send'' button. One industry leader, Sprint PCS, charges for calls even if there's no answer. Since companies generally charge for a full minute even when less than a minute is used, those few seconds when the phone is ringing could inflate a monthly bill quite a bit. This is especially true if the caller is paying extra fees for peak-hour usage, long-distance or calls made far away from home that trigger ''roaming'' charges of 60 cents or more a minute. The only nod to conventional telephone wisdom is that most companies don't charge if there's a busy signal. These billing policies are spelled out in the contracts signed by today's 76 million cell phone users -- but even some experts and careful shoppers were surprised to hear of them. ''I had no idea, and I would consider myself as astute on my telephone charges as anybody,'' said Rex G. Mitchell, an telecommunications industry analyst with Banc of America Securities in San Francisco and a former executive with the regional phone company U S West. ''Occasionally, when I'm out of town, I will make a call and look at the second hand on my watch to keep it under a minute because I'm paying long-distance or roaming charges,'' said Mitchell. ''But I've been timing it from 'hello' instead of from 'send.' I won't make that mistake now.'' The issue of first-minute billing policies caught the public eye in recent weeks after Cellular One tried to reduce the free ''ringing time'' it gives its New England customers to 15 seconds from 30. The carrier was bombarded by customer complaints, and quickly scrapped the change. Many of the million or more people signing up for wireless service each month focus less on when the call begins and more on how many minutes are included in their monthly calling plan or the fees for long-distance and peak-hour calls. Adam Litwinski, 26, an independent film maker from New York, disconnected his home phone and uses his wireless for all calls, but he had no idea he could be charged for unanswered calls. ''I never really paid much attention to it, honestly. I just assumed,'' said Litwinski. ''It kind of stinks.'' The industry's rationale in treating mobile phones differently from regular phones is that every wireless call uses the airwaves regardless of whether the call is successful. Of course, regular calls also use resources such as space on a fiber-optic cable. But the companies argue that they have far greater capacity in their cables than their wireless channels, and that the demands of carrying a regular phone signal are negligible compared with a wireless signal. ''You're occupying a channel. So when you make a connection, you get charged from the inception of when you seize that channel,'' explained Jeff Battcher, a BellSouth spokesman. ''For the most part, it's always been that way.'' Sprint PCS is only major company that charges from ''send-to-end'' regardless of whether there's an answer. Even among companies that only charge when a call goes through, including AirTouch, Bell Atlantic Mobile, BellSouth Mobility and Nextel Communications, the meter starts running from ''send,'' not from ''hello.'' Industry leader AT&T Wireless also starts the clock from ''send,'' but doesn't charge for incomplete calls made from within a customer's home region. Naturally, since many calling plans come with hundreds of minutes to burn each month, a lot of mobile phone users rarely reach their limit and don't need to pay additional charges for calls that don't go through. Litwinski, for example, pays $100 a month for a Sprint PCS plan with 1,000 minutes of air time so he won't have to worry about how long he talks or how many calls he makes. ''I never go over,'' he said. But for those who frequently exceed their monthly allowance or sign up for cheaper plans with smaller time allotments, those first-minute charges can be substantial since the average user racks up 100 minutes a month. Sheila Adkins, spokeswoman for the Council of Better Business Bureaus and a Cellular One customer, was also surprised to hear about ''send-to-end'' charges. ''They don't tell you these things. I read my bill. I read all the flyers. It goes to show, you really have to read your contract.'' Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company

To: Ruffian who wrote (34140)	7/6/1999 11:36:00 PM
From: Wyätt Gwyön	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 152472

Mp> I wondered same thing, On G&K I asked: Re: QCOM I know we are speculating from the outside, but (assuming there's something to the rumors) can anyone think of a good reason Q would have to sell to Siemens as opposed to NOK or Ericy? Obviously Q's management would have thought this through; just curious. To which Lucius Lamar responded If it's to be sold, I would assume QCOM would try to sell it to a buyer that wants it the most. Eager buyers pay more . That would have to be a company that has manufacturing skills, deep pockets, and the ability to merchandise a consumer product. I suspect that there are a lot of companies out there that see the direction of the cell phone -pc market much like many on this thread, and an established cell phone brand is a good start. If this is the case a company like Siemans might make sense. For various reasons none of the present cell phone makers sound like good candidates, but who knows </i?